How Far Would You Go to Avoid Certain Torture and Execution?
During the White Terror in Taiwan, Shih Ju-chen hid for 18 years behind a fake wall, in a space less than a meter wide.
By Daniel Gauss
Taiwan has been prominent in the news lately due to national elections and how election results may have increased the threat of war from China. What the press has not talked about, but what is important to know, is that the people of Taiwan have suffered greatly in their recent history. The story of Shih Ju-chen can stand as a grim and ghastly metaphor for the lives that the Taiwanese experienced from the end of World War 2 until the nineties. First, here is some background.
When European colonizers arrived during the Age of Exploration, the island now known as Taiwan was occupied mostly by indigenous tribes and some Chinese settlers. To this day 2% of the population is still made up of 16 differing indigenous ethnic groups. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to see the island, which they passed by, but they called it a name that stuck for a while: Ilha Formosa (Beautiful Island).
The Dutch ultimately took control, forcing Spain away, and controlled the island from 1624–1683, until the Qing Dynasty of China defeated the Dutch East India Company and…
